I have always been one to use warmups in baseball sims, and always liked the idea.
However, the warmups in OOTP 6.x didn't make much sense. Since the AI never had to warm pitchers up, it was essentially a handicap against the human player, particularly in non-DH leagues. So I turned it off.
I would like to see it come back, but only if it works better. The model I always liked was one used way, way back in the day on SSI's Computer Baseball:
- Both human and AI managers had to warm pitchers up
- You could warm up no more than two pitchers at a time (so no taking Turner Field into account, but that's no big deal IMHO)
- Pitchers took an average of 2-3 batters to warm up
- A change in inning/half-inning counted as 2 batters
- A visit to the mound counted as one batter; a mound visit also told you the status (OK, tired, etc.) of the pitcher
- You could visit the mound twice in an inning, but on the second visit you had to replace the pitcher
- Pitchers left in the bullpen too long would tire
- You could check pitcher status while your team was batting without a mound visit (duh)
I loved this. In particular, the 2-visit rule often made me think and take calculated risks. Not every pitcher warmed up at exactly the same rate (and IIRC starters used in the pen took longer). Sometimes I knew I had to yank my pitcher but the guy in the bullpen wasn't quite ready. So I'd do a mound visit...ugh, still not ready. Do I risk another mound visit? If I do, he might be ready...or he might not.
That's what I'd love to see. Obviously it can be/should be tweaked a bit, since OOTPB is a much richer, more flexible game. Perhaps time-to-warm-up could be linked to endurance -- one could make the argument that a reliever with low endurance is probably used to warming up quickly for a short trip to the mound, whereas a starter isn't. Also, doing two consecutive mound visits without even throwing a pitch is probably a rules no-no. But you get the idea.
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06-01-2006, 10:20 AM
